Selecting components for a game is pretty important, and while I wanted to make sure Killer Croquet‘s components were pretty straightforward, it was still a bit of a challenge finding the right pieces.

One of the key components of Killer Croquet is that everyone is constantly getting in each other’s way. Even the most fair hearted player is likely to hit a ball into a crowd of players, simply a function of the game.

So, an important feature of Killer Croquet is that you can have any number of playing pieces on a single space. With up to 6 players, with two pieces each, it’s a tall order to fit up to 12 pieces on a single space.

There are lots of ways to solve this problem, and certainly strategy dictates that you would not want to be in this cluster for long. For thematic and usability reasons, I knew I wanted player standups. But most commercially available ones are bulky, large, and with square or circle bottoms.

After a couple disastrous playtests with these large bases , I knew I had to either double the size of the board or find an alternative. Fortunately, 3D Printing provides a lot of alternatives.

Behold! The Killer Stand. Probably the greatest innovation to come out of this game. It has some pretty convenient features:

X Base: Allows pieces plenty of overlapping on spaces by interlinking.Pointer: Putting an arrow to denote direction allows players to “point” to the space they are on, making it obvious which space they are on in overcrowded situations.Directionality: A significant element in Killer Croquet is choosing which direction to hit your ball in before you know how far you hit it, the arrow helps simplify bookkeeping on that.Custom Size: Part of the reason other stands are so bulky, is because they are designed with a clip to function for multiple widths of cardstock. With 3D printing, I just design the stand to fit the cardstock I happen to be using.

There are actually a ton of other benefits and mechanics that could spring forth from the Killer Stand, not to mention the fact that the design is completely customizable.

This was an early attempt for my first game, but I’m incredibly excited about how 3D printing can have direct impacts on the game design process I’m wicked excited about some more intricate designs I have for future projects.